19 Comments
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Christy Salmonson's avatar

My sister read this at my moms funeral and it will always be connected to her me my sister and Mary Oliver. Love when it come to me in unexpected ways.

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Donna McArthur's avatar

Christy this is so beautiful. I just wrote my comment and then read yours which sums up what I was trying to say.

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TriTorch's avatar

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, i do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow;

I am the diamond glints on snow;

I am sunlight ripened on grain;

I am the gentle autumn rain;

When you awake and greet the dawn

I am the day as it is born;

I am birds in circling flight;

I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry

I am not there. I did not die.

-Clare Harner

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Lasita's avatar

Exquisite!

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Marilyn Peterlin's avatar

I found a small poster of this while going through my mother’s closet after she died. This poem makes me think of her. Love it always.

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Phoeagdor Blog 2 and Blog 4's avatar

Great poem. Outlaws........idea for next post - to answer her question at the end. We all bounce off each other. Would love to know your trajectories. Aspirations fighting the daily bread is a life. We live inbetween both, like grasshoppers. Salutes.

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Donna McArthur's avatar

As if by magic you posted this at exactly the right time. Poetry connects us, it opens us up, it soothes our soul. All this and more. Thank you for giving us some Mary on this summer day.

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♏️Seer's avatar

🙏NAMASTE💜

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Steve Veloso's avatar

So true ... 🌞

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Maha's avatar

What am I doing with my wild and precious life?🌺!

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Cat Strav's avatar

Those last lines prompted huge life changes for me. Powerful- every time I read it.

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Erin's avatar

What did you change? I love this poem.

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Cat Strav's avatar

I got divorced, put myself through tech school, handled reindeer, sailed from Florida to the Bahamas on a sailboat, worked the natural gas pipeline in the Gulf...

Before that I was a stay at home mom raising four kids. For 35 years. Ha.

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Michael Cord's avatar

guess there can be a second act, congrats

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Angela Cummings's avatar

I never tire of reading this poem.

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Lasita's avatar

One of the most. incredible poems I've ever read... and I've heard that last line "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" hundreds of times, but never before had the privilege of reading the whole astounding poem!!!

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Lasita's avatar

I plan to do more of what she advises us to do: to be idle and blessed... to stroll through the fields"... "all day.".. Nature is a great teacher.

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Suzi Blalock's avatar

Her last question never fails to lend more substance to my day.

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Sarah A. Cacioppo's avatar

That last line, tho

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